THE decision of the stipendiary stewards to suspend champion apprentice Simon H. K. Yim for five days at Sha Tin yesterday will be greeted with relief by a great many racing people deeply concerned about the recent standard of race-riding here. Yim's ban is overdue and the stewards have frankly acted only just in time to save their own wavering reputations. But they did finally mete out justice to a rider of considerable talent but one whose lack of responsibility on a racecourse is alarming. By acting yesterday and using their discretion to disqualify Brilliant Diamond, the stewards have hopefully signalled that they are not prepared to put up with any more of the almost reckless riding that has been a distressing feature of the sport here over the past two months.
There has been growing concern over basic safety on our two racecourses and despite words and assurances, little had been done until yesterday by the stipendiary stewards to allay those fears. There has been too much inconsiderate riding on our courses with some jockeys having little to no regard for the well-being of their fellow riders. There have been clear cases of careless riding and at least two bordering on reckless. Action had either not been forthcoming or been too lenient, given the unsatisfactory trend that race-riding has taken this season. This is a recipe for the erosion of public confidence because no racing jurisdiction will thrive under weak stewarding. There have been some public statements and a welter of private comment over actions taken and not taken by the stipendiary stewards in recent weeks. But it is fair to say that matters came to a head at Happy Valley last midweek, given what had gone before.
The new Happy Valley course has also given cause for some concern and is unquestionably one to treat with caution and respect. Quite rightly, in the overriding interests of safety, fields for 1,200-metre races were reduced to 12 and the 1,600-metre start extended by 50 metres. Chief stipendiary steward Bernard Hargreaves summoned all jockeys to a pre-racing talk at the city track and, by reliable accounts, did not mince words. It was the second such session at the Valley and jockeys were left in little doubt that stern action awaited future offenders.
Hargreaves had earlier responded to publicised statements of concern about safety by stating, quite fairly, that the stewards could only be expected to act when the Rules of Racing were infringed. However, had the stewards acted on Wednesday night, yesterday's unhappy incident would not have occurred as Yim would have already been in the grandstand rather than the saddle. In the fifth event at the Valley, Yim took Mehrban and Golden Power right out as he desperately sought a course for favourite Good Fortune. Last season Yim appeared before the stipendiary stewards nine times to receive two warnings, two severe warnings and subsequent suspensions. He was banned twice in England during the summer and might well have added to that regrettable tally. His disciplinary record is unsatisfactory and the stewards were doing both the lad himself and racing no favours by letting him off with warnings when sterner action was required.
That has now been taken and it must be hoped that Yim, who has a very bright future, will finally learn that winning a race is not everything . . . the manner in which it is won is also very important. The only stinging suspension handed down this season until yesterday was to female claimer Chung Lai-fong. It is a simple fact that every single licensed person that I have spoken to, plus many in the racing media and dedicated punters, believe that Yim was at least partially responsible for the incident that cost the previously blameless Chung her suspension. Only the stipendiary stewards saw it as being entirely attributable to Chung and banned her accordingly. The rules, or guidelines, under which the stipendiary stewards work are sadly in need of revision although it must be said that rules are only as good as those who implement them.
It is ridiculous to suggest that all careless riding offences are of a similar gravity. It has been stated that the three-day ban handed down on such a charge is not carved in stone but the last one-day ban readily recalled was on Yim for again breaching the advance marker pole rule last season. How the interference caused by Lance O'Sullivan recently could be treated in exactly the same way as that caused by Eric Legrix defies basic logic. Legrix's case was much more serious - and not just because Felix Coetzee fell.
